Vane-type machine

ABSTRACT

A rotary vane-type machine is disclosed which serves as a hydraulic pump or motor with several working chambers being operable by choice separately or in combination in order to control the rotational speed or torque of the machine. The rotor of the machine is flanked at one side by the machine housing and at the other side by a lateral disc incorporating counterpressure pockets with the adjacent side wall of the housing to achieve pressure balance and a small axially extending gap of the rotor.

United States Patent [1 1 Budecker et al.

1 1 VANE-TYPE MACHINE v [75] Inventors: Ludwig Budecker, Frankfurt am i Main; Lothar Kunze, Langenhain,

both of Germany [73] .Assignee: lTT Industries, Inc, New York,

[22] Filed: June 11, 1973 [2]] App]. No.: 368,781 a [30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 12, 1972 Germany 2228506 '52 vs. C]. 418/133 [51] Int. Cl...... FOlc 19/08; F030 3/00; F04c 15/00 [58] Field of Search 418/131, 133

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,479,962 11/1969 Pettibone 418/133 Nil-ill [451 July 22, 1975 3,586,466 6/1971 Erickson 418/268 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 758,875 10/1956 United Kingdom 418/15 Primary Examiner.lohn J. Vrablik Attorney, Agent, or Firm-.l. B. Raden; D. P. Warner 57] ABSTRACT A rotary vane-type machine is disclosed which serves as a hydraulic pump or motor with several working chambers being operable by choice separately or in combination in order to control the rotational speed or torque of the machine. The rotor of the machine is flanked at one side by the machine housing and at the other side by a lateral disc incorporating counterpressure pockets with the adjacent side wall of the housing to achieve pressure balance and a small axially extending gap of the rotor.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures VANE-TYPE MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention I This invention relates to a vane-type machine provided with several working chambers which may be accessed independently in any combination in order to control the roataional speed or the torque, respectively, of said working chambers, via a control device,

communicating by choice either with a pressure-" medium inlet or a pressure-medium outlet. 2. Description of the Prior A'rt A vane-type machine of thehabolve character is known by the Belgian Patent Specification 529,678.

constructed in accordance with is called counterpressure pockets in the lateral disc facing the control device in order to avoid inadmissible widening of the gap between the rotor and the lateral disc by virtue of the prevailing pressures. To give an example of the prior art, reference is herewith made to the German Patent Sp e'cification DT-PS 1,250,270.

If the chambers of such vane-type machines are to be accessed in any combination to permit control of their output, each chamber may be adapted to become a pressurized working chamber. However, if the counterpressure pockets are not precisely opposite their associated pressurized working chambers, the lateral disc will be subjected to bending stresses, thus causing the gap width between rotor and lateral disc to vary along the circumference of the rotor, the result being leakage losses and excessive wear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the object of the present invention to provide a vane-type machine with a plurality of working chambers which may be accessed independently in any combination in order to control the rotational speed or torque, respectively, said working chambers, via a control device, communicating by choice either with a pressure-medium inlet or a pressure-medium outlet, wherein any bending stresses of the lateral disc are avoided by applying counterpressure to the discs whereby any working chamber can be pressurized without affecting the gap width between rotor and lateral disc.

According to the invention, this is achieved in that there is assigned to each working chamber a counterpressure pocket known per se acting on a lateral disc lying opposite the control device, and also in that the counterpressure pockets are provided alternately on both sides of a partition wall located between the lateral disc and the housing of the vane-type machine.

According to the invention, the partition wall may be designed as an annular disc containing the counterpressure pockets in its two sides alternately.

From the point of view of manufacture, it may be particularly expedient to accommodate the counterpressure pockets alternately in the housing-and in the lateral disc and to provide a tin plate serving as a partition .wall between the lateral disc and the housing.

The advantages of thepresent invention primarily lie in that each working chamber is associated with a counterpressure pocket situated precisely opposite the former. Owing to the fact that the counterpressure pockets are disposed alternatelyon both sides of a partition wall, it is possible to provide for overlapping of the counterpressure pockets and also to give them the same dimensions as to the associated working chambers in order to obtain perfect pressure balance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein: I

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of a vane-type machine the invention, on the line 1-1 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vane-type machine on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an axial view of another annular disc according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The vane-type machine constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a housing 1 with a pressure-medium inlet 2 and a pressure-medium outlet 3. In

'the interior of the vane-type machine there is a rotor 5 connected with a shaft in a torsionally rigid manner with radially displaceable vanes 6, 6','6", etc. sliding along a cam plate 7. i

g The space created between the rotor 5 and the cam plate 7 is limited on one side by a lateral disc 8 and on the other side by a control device 9. Said control device 9 contains kidney-shaped orifices 10-21 leading to the chamber established by the rotor 5 and the cam plate 7 and enabling the vane-type machine to be supplied by a pressure medium and serving as a pressure-medium exhaust. The vane-type machine is so designed that several orifices l0-2l can be controlled by choice in order to obtain different torques or rotational speeds, respectively. Thus is it possible, for instance, to pressurize three working chambers via the orifices l3, l7 and 21. In this case the orifices 18, 10 and 14 must be connected to the pressure-medium outlet 3.

In order to cause variation in the rotational speeds of such vane-type machines, a control device is provided permitting for example also the orifices ll, 15, 19 to be pressurized additionally. Of course it is also possible that the working chambers associated with these orifices have an absorptive capacity which is different from that of the working chambers associated with the openings 13, 17 and 21, whereby another variation of possible rotational speeds would be achieved.

In order to avoid bending of the lateral disc 8 by the pressure imparted thereto in the individual working chambers, it is necessary to provide kidney-shaped counterpressure pockets when high operating pressures are applied. To this effect, the lateral disc 8 has a circular groove 22 on the side turned away from the rotor 5, in which an annular disc 23 is inserted. Both sides of said annular disc 23 accommodate counterpressure pockets illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an annular disc 23 in an axial view. The counterpressure pockets on the side which is turned away from the rotor 5 are assigned the reference numerals 24-29, whereas the counterpressure pockets facing the-rotor are illustrated in. broken lines in the drawing and have the reference numerals -35. Con.- sequently,,the rotational speed is only half as high when the workingchambers are of equal size.

As can be seen from FIG. '2, the counterpressure pockets on both sides of the annular disc 23 are not deep enough to connect'with each other, on the contrary, a partition wall 38 is formed in the annular disc 23. All counterpressure pockets are so spaced on the periphery and of such a size that a counterpressure field corresponding to each workingchamber is associated with each kidney-shaped orifice l02l. To this end, the counterpressure pockets communicate with their respective working chambers via channels; the

channels 36 and 37 can be seen in FIG. 2 of the drawmg. 7 v

According to another embodiment of the invention not shown, the circular groove 22 is formed in the housing liinstead of in the lateral disc 8 so that the annular disc 23 is then inserted in the circular groove of the housing.

A further embodiment of the invention provides for accommodation of the counterpressure pockets alternately in the housing 1 and in the lateral disc 8, with a tin plate serving as a partition wall 38 disposed between thelateral disc 8 and the housing I. The mode of operation of the vane-type machine constructed in accordance with the invention correspondsto that of a conventional vane-type machine. Since each counterpressure pocket communicates, via a connecting channel, with one chamber of the vanetype machine, counterpressure is applied automatically together with th e control action of the vane-type ma- 4 chine.

While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with specific apparatus and applications, it is to be understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention.

We claim: I

l. A vanetype machine comprising a housing enclos- 'ing a plurality of working chambers communicating with either a pressuremedium inlet or a pressuremedium outlet, a lateral disc sealing one side of the working chambers, a counter-pressure pocket assigned to each .working chamber to enable equalization of pressure on both sides of the lateral disc, said counterpressure pockets being located alternately on both sides of a .partition wall located between the lateral disc and the housing of the vane-type machine, and meansv alternately containing the counterpressure pockets in its two sides.

4. A vane-type machine as claimed in claim 3, in which the annular disc is positioned in a circular groove on that side of the lateral disc which is adjacent the housing. i 

1. A vane-type machine comprising a housing enclosing a plurality of working chambers communicating with either a pressuremedium inlet or a pressure-medium outlet, a lateral disc sealing one side of the working chambers, a counter-pressure pocket assigned to each working chamber to enable equalization of pressure on both sides of the lateral disc, said counter-pressure pockets being located alternately on both sides of a partition wall located between the lateral disc and the housing of the vane-type machine, and means coupling said counter-pressure pockets to respective pressure-medium inlets and pressure-medium outlets to provide equalization pressure to the respective pockets.
 2. A vane-type machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the counterpressure pockets are formed in different sizes proportioned to different volumes of the working chambers.
 3. A vane-type machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the partition wall is formed by an annular disc alternately containing the counterpressure pockets in its two sides.
 4. A vane-type machine as claimed in claim 3, in which the annular disc is positioned in a circular groove on that side of the lateral disc which is adjacent the housing. 